In a liquid crystal display having an in-plane switching (IPS) mode liquid crystal cell, the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a substantially horizontal direction when no electric field is applied, and turned by about 45 degrees when an electric field is applied in a lateral direction, so that transmission of light (white image) and shutting out of light (black image) are controlled. A liquid crystal display having a conventional IPS mode liquid crystal cell has a problem in which the contrast is relatively low when the screen is viewed at an oblique angle of 45° to the absorption axis of the polarizing plate (azimuth angle of 45°, 135°, 225°, or 315°), and a phenomenon in which displayed colors vary with viewing angle (also called color shift) is significant. Therefore, a method for reducing the color shift is disclosed in which two or more retardation films are placed on one side of the liquid crystal cell (see for example Patent Literature 1). A method for improving the contrast as well as reducing the color shift is also proposed in which a negative biaxial retardation film and a positive C-plate are used to improve the contrast in oblique directions (see for example Patent Literature 2).
On the other hand, large-screen liquid crystal displays for use in LCD televisions or the like tend to be increased in light-source brightness and therefore need to have a higher contrast liquid crystal panel. However, liquid crystal panels according to conventional techniques still have light leakage at an angle of 45° to the absorption axis of the polarizing plate and therefore are not considered to have sufficient contrast.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 11-133408    Patent Literature 2: JP-A No. 2006-178401